Michael Connelly, a former journalist, has a global following as the author of 25 bestselling novels, including “Blood Work,” “The Lincoln Lawyer” and 18 novels featuring Los Angeles homicide detective Harry Bosch. His books have won numerous awards, been translated into 32 languages and more than 45 million copies have been sold around the world. Both “Blood Work” and “The Lincoln Lawyer” were turned into Hollywood films. He lives in Florida.

Margaret Engel is executive director ofthe Alicia Patterson Foundation. She also serves on the advisory board of the Fund for Investigative Journalism and chairs the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards. She is a former Nieman Fellow and former managing editor of the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Previously, Margaret was an editor and reporter for The Washington Postand a reporter for TheDes Moines Register. She is co-author of “Red Hot Patriot,” a one-woman show based on the writings of Molly Ivins; and of “Ballpark Vacations: Great Family Trips to Minor League and Classic Major League Ballparks Across America” and “Food Finds: America’s Best Local Foods and the People Who Produce Them.”

Robert Gunnison was director of school affairs at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism from 1999-2013. In addition to his administrative duties, he taught classes in political and investigative reporting and public records. From 1985-99, he reported for the San Francisco Chronicle in Sacramento, where he covered state government and state and national politics with an emphasis on budget and tax issues. Before that, he was Sacramento Bureau Manager for United Press International.

Vernon Loeb is managing editor of the Houston Chronicle, and former metro editor of The Washington Post. He began his career at The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1978 and rose through the reporting ranks over the next 16 years, serving as Southeast Asia correspondent and city hall bureau chief. In 1994, Vernon joined The Washington Post as a city reporter covering D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, and later served as a correspondent for both national security and the Pentagon. In 2004, he become California investigations editor at the Los Angeles Times. He returned to The Inquirer in 2007 as deputy managing editor for news and multimedia; rejoined The Post as metro editor in 2011; and was named managing editor of the Houston Chronicle in December, 2013. He’s co-author, with Paula Broadwell, of The New York Times bestseller “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.”

William K. Marimow is the editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. As a reporter at The Inquirer, Marimow won Pulitzer Prizes in 1977 and 1985. After leaving the paper in 1993, he became editor of The Baltimore Sun and later vice president for news at National Public Radio before returning to The Inquirer.

David C. Vladeck is a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. He recently returned to the law school after serving nearly four years as the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. At the FTC, he supervised more than 430 lawyers, investigators, paralegals and support staff in carrying out the Bureau’s work to protect consumers from unfair or fraudulent practices. Before joining the law school. David spent more than 25 years with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, a nationally-prominent public interest law firm. He has briefed and argued a number of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and before federal courts of appeal. He also serves on the boards of the National Consumer Law Center and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Henry Weinstein is a professor of the practice of law and a senior lecturer in literary journalism at the University of California, Irvine. In addition to being a lawyer, he was a journalist for nearly 40 years, including 30 at the Los Angeles Times, where he covered local and national politics, labor and law. During that time, Henry was often recognized for journalistic achievement, including the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, which the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism presents annually to a journalist “whose reporting over time shows courage, integrity, curiosity and intelligence and epitomizes the role of journalism in a free society.” He was one of the founders of the Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley, Calif., and currently is serving on a committee of the California State Bar Association that is seeking to enhance legal representation for low-income people in civil cases.

Myron Levin, FairWarning’s executive director and editor, is also a member of the board.

A fatal motorcycle accident in San Diego County on Jan. 30, 2011. (CAL FIRE San Diego)

After years of inaction, federal regulators are trying to crack down on the use of cheap novelty helmets linked to thousands of motorcycle crash deaths and injuries in recent years.

The novelty helmets do not comply with federal safety standards, and provide little or no protection against head injuries in a crash. Still, as FairWarning has reported, tens of thousands of the helmets — also known as “loophole lids” or “brain buckets” – every year are imported from overseas and peddled over the Internet.

But now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing rules to cut off the supply of novelty helmets and make it easier for state law enforcement officials to identify offending gear on the road. Together, NHTSA officials say, the moves could save dozens or even hundreds

A new study has found that firefighters have a greater than average risk of developing some types of cancer, and that black and Latino firefighters face the highest risk of all.

The findings by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the federal agency thatresearches work-related hazards, confirm previous research about firefighters and cancers that may be caused by inhalation of toxic fumes. But the study is unique for its size and focus on minority firefighters. Authors say it included more firefighters with cancer–3,996–than previous studies.

The study, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, used 1988 to 2007 data from the California Cancer Registry to compare the incidence of cancer among firefighters and the general public.It found that all California firefighters had a 30 to 100 percent greater chance of developing melanoma and certain cancers of the esophagus, lung, prostate,

For workers like John W. McDonnell, 47, a bartender at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, secondhand smoke remains a serious issue. “You get done with your shift, and you’re breathing heavy and your eyes burn and your nose is sore,” he said.

NIOSH, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called on employers to take steps to protect workers. The advisory agency recommended banning